Hey again, Its been a very long time since ive added to the blog i know and with so much thats happened its difficult to know where to start!also some of the pics are not in order of occurrance as i've not a clue how to navigate this site very well yet but hey,at least ya gettin the pics! 
Leaving broome was yet again a sad experience as we had accumulated many great friends there and as always it was difficult to leave but leave we must as to beat the inevitable monsoon and cyclone season now due in the north and to avoid being flooded in by flash floods somewhere in the middle of nowhere without means of escape!
With ernie all set after a freshly serviced engine and enough cash to get us to our next destination off we set on an epic 5000km+ journey to melbourne (south east)!
It was all goin so so well until poor old ernie one day started to cough and splutter a bit,which was a little worrying due to the fact we were at the very least 100km from anywhere and it was at least 40 dgrees centigrade!
The symptoms were as if he'd ran out of fuel and was choking up so ross and i,turning and looking at eachother with similar looks of dismay on our faces feared something very,very bad was about occur!
Luckily for us,after a lot of prayer and grovelling to ernie to push on through the pain barrier and keep running ,he did just that though still coughing and spluttering and sometimes taking us down to about 30km/hr nevertheless he made it to the next stop,kunnanara.Now by this time ernie's running fine and dandy again so being the cowboys that we are we just put the problem down to some dirty fuel from the last gas station,filled up again,and fuelled by pride and determination(idiocy!) to reach our daily target,carried on!Only.....60km down the road and off he goes again and once again feeling like the blood has been drained from my body and the expression from my face the worry set in!now as he wasn't actually breaking down as such, my stubbornness to carry on was immense but after a little ernie cab conference the pride was swallowed and the moment the going was good we did a u-turn and headed back to kunnanara to get ernie some professional help!
This turned out to be a good move as we happened to find a camp/caravan site along side a beautiful lake with lush gardens and green all around (which was a rarity due to the lack of water along most of our journey)
We pulled up literally three metres from and parallel to the lake and set camp there for the night.What an awesome spot,just perfect for sunset.After jumping in and out of ernie in a time superman would've been proud of,donning my shorts and a grin,in i went and what an amazing swim!Much time had passed since i'd had the opportunity to swim in some natural fresh water and it was just what i needed!upon asking ross if it was ok to swim in,he replied that the groundsman had said that we could swim at our own risk!(due to the fact that the site were not insured for the lake but only the grounds!ok i thought,sweet!After vacating the lake i then find the swimming pool only to find the same groundsman having a dip..so i get chatting...and i find out that the lake is infested with fresh water crocodiles!nice!now,not really knowing if he was pulling my leg or not i head for the showers and then back to the lake where i find ross setting up the fishing tackle ready to have a little fish before dark.Shortly after this, a very peculiar shape appeared before us in the water,and then....a very peculiar pair of eyes!Right where i had been swimming there were at least three sets of eyes now peering up at us from the waters edge!nice!haha never thought i'd be able to say i've been swimming with crocodiles!first sharks in the waves in broome and now crocs in kunnanara!hehe
The next day we headed for the nearest mechanics and left ernie with them for a few hours and headed into the town,and upon our return find that the mechanic has replaced the fuel filter and everything should now be A ok!sweet!With a new found beaming smile,off we ride again!Only as far as about another 50km and........you guessed it!the same thing happens!now,by this time,we're sort of used to this little hiccup,and after all,he's an old motor..and all old motors have character...... right!?
So proceed we must and with numerous daily prayers with every ernie fit somehow we make it on to the most northern town of our trip (katherine)before our descent into the great red centre to the south!
Now it's not the greatest idea in the world to attempt the epic drive down through the great red centre of australia with a van as old as ernie,let alone the fact that once every 5-10minutes we think he's going to blow up!But with left with little choice,having the blind faith and the belief that...."yes he's a little unwell....but he'll get us there" We carried on with our fingers crossed!Some days we drove for around 12-15hours non-stop!now considering i only passed my driving test a month before my trip,i now consider myself very much broken in!we must have driven the length of britain at least four times so far!: )
Ernie now pulls a new scare out of his bag of tricks and starts to backfire at random intervals!hmmmm not so much of a problem but when the engine is under the front seats and you can feel the engine popping under your arse this creates a little more apprehension and an even funnier expression as we again do our usual side glance to one another,one eyebrow raised!by this time the whole experience becomes rather comical but as there's nothing we can do about it,why not!though if we didn't laugh about it,we probably would've been crying about it instead! : )
Next stop Alice springs!nice little town this!would've been nice to have a little more time here but once again priorities lie with ernie and the mission ahead!Again,we booked ernie into a local mechanics thinking maybe the fuel tank needs pumping and cleaning and maybe a couple of small parts here and there and we'd be off on our merry way!
Wrong!!!!
On our return to the yard we were confronted with the sad and undeniable reality of ernies illness!
he actually needed about three days work,about 1000-1500 dollars for medical fees,a new carburetta blah blah blah bollocks!not good news!And even worse trying to find the parts for a 1978 campervan! As we didn't have these funds we then were faced with the decison of what to do next and with the mechanics not having much hope for us making it to south australia,it was a tricky one!After paying them 160 dollars for the bad news, not being ones to give up and still having great faith in our beloved companion and home,off we set again and undertook one of the riskiest drives one can endeavor to take!weeeeeeeeeeeeell,whats the worst that could happen!Against most peoples advice we also drove alot under the cover of darkness,partly because we wanted just to get as far as we could per day but mainly because the engine was now starting to get very hot and is was cooler for ernie to drive at night time!Though i must say we had a few near misses with stray cattle crossing the road and an army of kangaroos that tested our reactions to the limit!All good though..... Kill Ratio 0 % which makes me happy,though we did have one idiot roo run into and bounce off the side of the van on one occasion!theres always one hey!
Every now and again during the drive (daytime)we kept getting struck with random,freak winds which really threw the van about and tested whoever was driving at the time!we discovered that these were actually small tornadoes (twisters)crossing the road!now some of them you can see as they pick up dust and things in their path,but other times,they can be moving along the road and to the naked eye,become invisible!most of them actually being once,maybe twice the length of the van so it was crazy how they almost span the van around!haha quite fun really but not so much when caught unaware!: )
Not too much to report on the journey through the centre apart from ernies hiccups and sweltering heat which blasts through the windows like a majorly hot hair drier.A couple of places of interest like,the u.f.o capital of australia which is called "wycliffe well" thats been the host area of countless sightings in the past,and interestingly nearby theres actually a military airbase!coincidence?I think not! Although we spent a night ogling the amazing abundance of stars on a stopover one night we failed to spot any u.f.o's but we were blessed with the scene of countless shooting stars which was an awesome show!...or were they!! : )
Also a place of aboriginal legend called "the devils marbles" which apparently is a geological marvel,as these consist of a giant rounded,red rock boulders that the aboriginals believe were the eggs of the rainbow serpents in local folklore culture!A pretty sight and strangely the only rocks of their statue around!
Leaving broome was yet again a sad experience as we had accumulated many great friends there and as always it was difficult to leave but leave we must as to beat the inevitable monsoon and cyclone season now due in the north and to avoid being flooded in by flash floods somewhere in the middle of nowhere without means of escape!
With ernie all set after a freshly serviced engine and enough cash to get us to our next destination off we set on an epic 5000km+ journey to melbourne (south east)!
It was all goin so so well until poor old ernie one day started to cough and splutter a bit,which was a little worrying due to the fact we were at the very least 100km from anywhere and it was at least 40 dgrees centigrade!
The symptoms were as if he'd ran out of fuel and was choking up so ross and i,turning and looking at eachother with similar looks of dismay on our faces feared something very,very bad was about occur!
Luckily for us,after a lot of prayer and grovelling to ernie to push on through the pain barrier and keep running ,he did just that though still coughing and spluttering and sometimes taking us down to about 30km/hr nevertheless he made it to the next stop,kunnanara.Now by this time ernie's running fine and dandy again so being the cowboys that we are we just put the problem down to some dirty fuel from the last gas station,filled up again,and fuelled by pride and determination(idiocy!) to reach our daily target,carried on!Only.....60km down the road and off he goes again and once again feeling like the blood has been drained from my body and the expression from my face the worry set in!now as he wasn't actually breaking down as such, my stubbornness to carry on was immense but after a little ernie cab conference the pride was swallowed and the moment the going was good we did a u-turn and headed back to kunnanara to get ernie some professional help!
This turned out to be a good move as we happened to find a camp/caravan site along side a beautiful lake with lush gardens and green all around (which was a rarity due to the lack of water along most of our journey)
We pulled up literally three metres from and parallel to the lake and set camp there for the night.What an awesome spot,just perfect for sunset.After jumping in and out of ernie in a time superman would've been proud of,donning my shorts and a grin,in i went and what an amazing swim!Much time had passed since i'd had the opportunity to swim in some natural fresh water and it was just what i needed!upon asking ross if it was ok to swim in,he replied that the groundsman had said that we could swim at our own risk!(due to the fact that the site were not insured for the lake but only the grounds!ok i thought,sweet!After vacating the lake i then find the swimming pool only to find the same groundsman having a dip..so i get chatting...and i find out that the lake is infested with fresh water crocodiles!nice!now,not really knowing if he was pulling my leg or not i head for the showers and then back to the lake where i find ross setting up the fishing tackle ready to have a little fish before dark.Shortly after this, a very peculiar shape appeared before us in the water,and then....a very peculiar pair of eyes!Right where i had been swimming there were at least three sets of eyes now peering up at us from the waters edge!nice!haha never thought i'd be able to say i've been swimming with crocodiles!first sharks in the waves in broome and now crocs in kunnanara!hehe
The next day we headed for the nearest mechanics and left ernie with them for a few hours and headed into the town,and upon our return find that the mechanic has replaced the fuel filter and everything should now be A ok!sweet!With a new found beaming smile,off we ride again!Only as far as about another 50km and........you guessed it!the same thing happens!now,by this time,we're sort of used to this little hiccup,and after all,he's an old motor..and all old motors have character...... right!?So proceed we must and with numerous daily prayers with every ernie fit somehow we make it on to the most northern town of our trip (katherine)before our descent into the great red centre to the south!
Now it's not the greatest idea in the world to attempt the epic drive down through the great red centre of australia with a van as old as ernie,let alone the fact that once every 5-10minutes we think he's going to blow up!But with left with little choice,having the blind faith and the belief that...."yes he's a little unwell....but he'll get us there" We carried on with our fingers crossed!Some days we drove for around 12-15hours non-stop!now considering i only passed my driving test a month before my trip,i now consider myself very much broken in!we must have driven the length of britain at least four times so far!: )
Ernie now pulls a new scare out of his bag of tricks and starts to backfire at random intervals!hmmmm not so much of a problem but when the engine is under the front seats and you can feel the engine popping under your arse this creates a little more apprehension and an even funnier expression as we again do our usual side glance to one another,one eyebrow raised!by this time the whole experience becomes rather comical but as there's nothing we can do about it,why not!though if we didn't laugh about it,we probably would've been crying about it instead! : )
Next stop Alice springs!nice little town this!would've been nice to have a little more time here but once again priorities lie with ernie and the mission ahead!Again,we booked ernie into a local mechanics thinking maybe the fuel tank needs pumping and cleaning and maybe a couple of small parts here and there and we'd be off on our merry way!Wrong!!!!
On our return to the yard we were confronted with the sad and undeniable reality of ernies illness!
he actually needed about three days work,about 1000-1500 dollars for medical fees,a new carburetta blah blah blah bollocks!not good news!And even worse trying to find the parts for a 1978 campervan! As we didn't have these funds we then were faced with the decison of what to do next and with the mechanics not having much hope for us making it to south australia,it was a tricky one!After paying them 160 dollars for the bad news, not being ones to give up and still having great faith in our beloved companion and home,off we set again and undertook one of the riskiest drives one can endeavor to take!weeeeeeeeeeeeell,whats the worst that could happen!Against most peoples advice we also drove alot under the cover of darkness,partly because we wanted just to get as far as we could per day but mainly because the engine was now starting to get very hot and is was cooler for ernie to drive at night time!Though i must say we had a few near misses with stray cattle crossing the road and an army of kangaroos that tested our reactions to the limit!All good though..... Kill Ratio 0 % which makes me happy,though we did have one idiot roo run into and bounce off the side of the van on one occasion!theres always one hey!
Every now and again during the drive (daytime)we kept getting struck with random,freak winds which really threw the van about and tested whoever was driving at the time!we discovered that these were actually small tornadoes (twisters)crossing the road!now some of them you can see as they pick up dust and things in their path,but other times,they can be moving along the road and to the naked eye,become invisible!most of them actually being once,maybe twice the length of the van so it was crazy how they almost span the van around!haha quite fun really but not so much when caught unaware!: )
Not too much to report on the journey through the centre apart from ernies hiccups and sweltering heat which blasts through the windows like a majorly hot hair drier.A couple of places of interest like,the u.f.o capital of australia which is called "wycliffe well" thats been the host area of countless sightings in the past,and interestingly nearby theres actually a military airbase!coincidence?I think not! Although we spent a night ogling the amazing abundance of stars on a stopover one night we failed to spot any u.f.o's but we were blessed with the scene of countless shooting stars which was an awesome show!...or were they!! : )
Also a place of aboriginal legend called "the devils marbles" which apparently is a geological marvel,as these consist of a giant rounded,red rock boulders that the aboriginals believe were the eggs of the rainbow serpents in local folklore culture!A pretty sight and strangely the only rocks of their statue around!
Another days drive from here and we finally arrive at the south australian border and we all let out a big cheer and have a little sing along!hehe which reminds me of a night previous to this when it was around 2am,we were driving around 40km/ph due to the herds of kangaroos all over the place,feeling a little wired and over tired due to excessive kilometres driven and too much coffee we end up singing songs for ernie at the top of our voices to keep his spirits up!now this may sound crazy to some but its a miraculous thing what a few football chants belted out at 2am will do for your motor!(adding his name and subtracting theteam that is: ) bit random but just sprung into my head!
Anyway,so....next stop Adelaide to see a friend that we met on the footy grand final day whilst working in karratha,west coast whom was working there for 3 weeks away from home and had offered to meet up in his home town when and if we made it there.After spending a rather dodgy night sleeping in a car park next to a dock in a place called port augusta,with boy racers speeding past every 2minutes and drunken youths shouting,puking,and using ernie as an assault course we awoke unscathed and after a coffee and a roadhouse shower we embarked on what has turned out to be our last journey in ernie so far : (
Ok this is taking me forever and im never going to get this posted by xmas,so im going to cut the rest real short!
Basically,our mate (also called damo) offered to look at the van for us and also kindly offered to put us up for a few days!nice bloke is damo and as soon as he would get home from work,he'd be straight into the van pulling the whole thing apart!loves a challenge so he does!Ross and i could only look in bewilderment as we know nothing at all about motors and left him to it!we ended up spending a week or so at damo's house with him and his family and had a great time.He even let us borrow his 4x4 to sightsee around the city with while he was at work during the day!(brave man!) A great city as a whole but the lack of money and the fact that damo had to fly to queensland for work for two weeks meant problems for us as ernie was far from well again and was still waiting for much needed organ donors as his engine was not a well one!
Next step....
We decided to leave our beloved home and companion in damo's capable hands and to fly to our final destination (for now!)which is the most beautifully multicultural and diverse city of melbourne!Here we are staying at a friends house that has again,very kindly offered us a place to stay for a while!If you look back to the pics of bali,at the dreamland beach you'll see a guy with long black curly hair and probably wearing a cowboy hat!that'll be rob!one of the greatest friends we've met so far along the way!We met him in bali on about the 3rd day there and pretty much spent three weeks together and again we had the offer to visit once in australia and so here we are!We now have a room each in robs house rent free and are sharing bills etc and i must say its great fun!barbecues galore and good ol' aussie culture!mind you im missing out on the barbecue culture a bit now as i've turned veggie so a bit gutted but never mind!Think im in just about the worst country in the world to turn vegetarian but it tests the willpower and if i can make it through oz then it'll be no probs anywhere else!Still waiting to hear news about ernies condition but we're keeping hopeful that he'll pull through!let's hope so,we could sure do with the money,or some transport either way's a winner!
Right now im struggling through an ear infection so on antibiotics at the moment and a little worried that i'll not be able to have a beer on xmas day!man that sucks!hopefully it'll be ok by then!we went to a house party at the flashiest house i think in the world the week before last and i decided (after a few sherberts) to do an aerial flip into the pool and landed right on my left ear forcing half the swimming pool into my ear and perforating my ear drum!well thats a first!i had water coming out of my ear for days!Never thought i'd be able to spit water and whistle out of my ear before!haha classic!Anyway,it was actually quite lucky that i was even at the party as the night before i attempted to walk home from the city back to the suburbs!its amazing what a whole day and night on the sauce will do to a man!I must've walked a good 30km that night and by the time i was picked up (very close to the goal i might add!) it was 9 am!i felt like forrest gump,only walking instead of running! "well.....i'll just keeeeep ooooon waaaalkn!" haha three hours sleep n off to the house party for another day of debauchery!And then the next day!The day previous (friday) we'd been out from 12 midday with Robs friends around the city for a xmas party and as most of them are bar/club owners/rich fellas the alcohol was flowing a little too freely!We ate out at a chinese yum char restaurant(spelt wrong probably) and that was a first for ross and i but thoroughly enjoyable cuisine and a great time was had by all and we are now well n truly broken in to the melbourne way of life!what an amazing city!I could live here for certain,the people are amazing,the food,culture,lifestyle and overall feel of the place is of a very laid back,imaginative and accepting nature!The city also has a very continental feel to it!
Well,theres so much more i could say but its taken me two days straight to write this whilst uploading/losing pictures along the way and i think to be honest i've said enough for now.In a few days it be christmas so i wish you all the very happiest festive time and an equallly happy new year! i had tried to post a xmas video message for you all but after spending an hour or two trying to upload it i reluctantly have given up,sorry about that!
( sometimes you get a little bored on the road,and end up taking
pointless but fun photographs such as this one.....doh!: )
anyway, much love as always.
damo xxxx
